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Octomom 911.

Last Monday, coming out of the gym, I got a call from the producers of The Today Show. Short and simple, they wanted to know my take on the Octomom's series of 911 calls. There have been a few calls -- but they were particularly interested in my reaction to the one where her son had wandered off and she was screaming “oh God I’m going to kill myself” over and over and over and over until the 911 operator felt compelled to plead with her not to say that for the sake of her other children. The producers wanted to know if I felt her rant was further proof that she is truly unstable ,or if it could have just been pregnancy hormones driving her runaway train of emotions. It seems they were working on a segment about the Octomom’s 911 calls, and they were pretty sure they could count on me to tell it like it is (or like I think it is). Of course I felt that the 911 calls were further proof that she’s not playing with a full deck.

I had to fly into New York that same day arriving at my hotel at 1:00 a.m. I won't bore you with the details of what it took to arrange coverage for my kids just to leave for 24 hours. But it was The Today Show, so I moved mountains and got on the plane. I landed in New York, fell asleep as soon as I hit the pillow,only to wake up at 6:00 a.m. NY time (3:00 a.m. for me), get ready and hit the set. While getting my make-up put on in the dressing room, I met the other mom who would be sharing my segment, Romi from True Mom Confessions. We’d both heard of each other and hit it off immediately. Romi made it fairly clear that she in no way thought Octomom was sane but that she felt that hormones could have heightened her emotions and many moms she’s heard from have done similar things. To which I thought, like what? Have eight babies when you already have six at home?

I, like many people, question this woman, or any woman’s ability to parent fourteen children alone. And if you’re pregnant with eight babies, chances are excellent that they will have a lot of medical issues. Speaking as a mother of a child with “special needs,” I can say that Nadya will need a lot of help. And let's not forget, this is a woman that originally turned down an offer from Angel Care to help her round the clock with her children’s basic needs because it would interfere with the reality show she was sure she would be filming. As the cameras started rolling, I was a predisposed skeptic at best.

Being everyone has an opinion here, and is sure their's is right, I have to say, none of her kids look neglected or unhealthy. She seems to love them all very much. Then again, it could all be for the camera's. I can barely handle two kids 3 years apart without the help of some sort of medication, let alone 14 freakin' babies that need round the clock care! I do believe there is a mental problem here,wether it be she is addicted to being pregnant,or addicted to having kids, she doesn't comprehend consequences obviously. The whole I don't want to accept help bull crap thing pee's me off making her looklike the great white smartian. Please. No one feels sorry for her, everyone feels sorry for her kids and doesn't want to break up the brother's and sister's. I would like to start a collection for surgery to get the head case fixed...anybody with me on that one????

MDTaz03.23.09

Such a touchy topic, this one. I think most moms, who get observed and critiqued up and down all the time, try their best to suspend judgment, give an empathetic shrug and write this off to hormones. Nice of you to acknowledge that. I had my desperate moments when I was pregnant and when my kids were babies (and still do). I've also had a scare or two when a little one who was underfoot was all of a sudden out of sight. But when that happens, smart moms get serious and sort it out. Everything about this story feels a bit too much like a series of reality-TV publicity stunts and I think it's time that the media stop giving her the attention she seems to crave. In the end, it's all very, very sad.